When Kents Hill School students arrived at the Maine Central Campus to begin the 2024-2025 school year, they were greeted by their new principal, Dr. Molly T. McKean. The boarding and day school, which has been co-educational since its founding 200 years ago, is marking a new milestone with its first female leader. But McKean is even more excited that her gender isn’t getting more attention. “The Kents Hill community is so inviting,” she says. “We are a place where gender doesn’t matter as long as you care about the kids and care about Kents Hill.”
Dr. Molly T. McKean. Photo courtesy of Kents Hill School
McKean comes to this role with more than 20 years of experience as an educational leader in boarding and day schools across the United States, but her belief in the benefits of the boarding school academic model has led her to try new things. Rooted in her own experiences as a student. And meeting people from all over the world. “I experienced the transformative potential of boarding schools,” McKean says. “That was part of the beginning of my career in education,” said the Massachusetts native.
McKean is excited to return to New England. “Maine is etched into my soul in a really meaningful way,” she says. “People are great everywhere, but the people who live here are my people. And the energy on this campus is really great.”
As one of Mr. McKean’s first acts as Head of School, he will partner with the Board to create the Director of Excellence in Education, who will be responsible for improving Kents Hill’s educational approach and providing teachers with knowledge, tools and ongoing support. A new position has been created. to improve their technology. “I’m very excited about this position,” McKean says. “At Kents Hill, we value growth. We are a very curious institution. We want to continue to evolve, and our understanding of what a great education looks like. I think it’s evolving in the wider world right now.”
Dr. Kate Cook Witt, a passionate advocate for teacher development, most recently served as the science team leader at the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance in Augusta, and began her new role this summer. “When I read the job description, I thought, ‘This is all the parts of my career that I love combined into one,’” Cook says. “This position leverages my skill set in education, curriculum development, teacher professional development, and research to really impact change in a variety of ways within schools,” Cook said, working with teachers. We support teacher growth and development by implementing best practices suggested by neuroscience, cognitive psychology, inclusive pedagogy, and culturally responsive education.
Kent’s Hill offers more than 90 courses that allow students to explore ideas and topics they are passionate about. Photo courtesy of Kents Hill School
Because Kents Hill is a private school, its teachers are free to experiment with innovative learning approaches that may be difficult to implement in other school settings, with parameters around what teachers can and cannot do. “We often talk about this as a transition from traditional learning to project-based, experiential-based, and place-based learning,” Cook says. This model also strives to build more authentic moments of assessment for students. “We both believe that when children do their final project in class, they should be evaluated on their ability to solve real-world problems,” McKean says.
This new initiative is an extension of Kents Hill’s established history of supporting students’ different learning styles. “It’s become a trend in schools to talk about neurodiversity and how to provide strong learning supports for all students to succeed in the classroom,” McKean said. “We’ve been doing this longer than anyone else, and I think we’re doing it in a holistic, deep-rooted way.” In recent years, they’ve also focused on disseminating new technology, and as part of their graduation requirements, Students are required to take an engineering-related curriculum. “When I saw Kents Hill adapt like that, I knew it was a really interesting place,” McKean says. “This is a place that is evolving to continue serving children in a rapidly changing world.”
With love to Maine
Although 25 percent of Kent’s Hill School’s population is made up of day students from towns around Maine, the school is committed to helping Maine residents take advantage of the boarding program through tuition discounts. We are also working on this. “The fact that we are seriously investing in our state and striving to make our programs available to as many Maine children as possible is a statement of our mission,” McKean said. “That’s one of the reasons I fell in love with Kents Hill in the first place.”
Tuition for boarding students residing in Maine is $52,750, a discount of $16,750 from the traditional rate. The school also offers merit scholarships to the children of Colby College and Maine General employees, and provides $13,500 in vouchers to pay tuition at another school for students in towns without a public high school. I am using the Maine Town Tuition Program. “As we grow and bring in families from all over the world, we want to make sure those people end up meeting many families who are proud to be a Maine family.” McKean says Mr. “We want to be based in Maine and connect with the world in a really intentional way.”
Ultimately, McKean and Cook want Kents Hill to become a resource hub, first in Maine and then across the country, for thinking about different ways to approach education. “We want to think about how we can break down the barriers that exist in some of the current educational settings,” Cook says. “Our goal is to use ourselves as a testing ground and then expand to help teachers in a variety of settings start playing in their own spaces,” said Cook, with the support of McKean. I am confident that it will help you achieve that. “Molly is a great leader who really balances strategic vision with concrete action,” Cook said. “I am very excited about the future of Kents Hill with her at the helm.”
Ms. McKean believes that school pride will help her move toward her future goals. “In the face of our evolving and complex digital lives, community is something we all crave,” she says. “This is where we make that happen, and I’ve personally benefited from that even in my first few months on The Hill.”
For more information about Kentshill School, visit kentshill.org. 1614 Main St., Kents Hill. 207-685-4914.
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